Ushering in a new era
Thankfully within the halls of the institutional church there has been more and more talk of gender equality. This is a breath of fresh air compared to how the all male hierarchy has responded in the past. Though sadly there is still resistance in one area that is still totally dominated by men. I find it even more sad that those groups who are so open to things like women in the priesthood have overlooked one important area of gender disparity that our prophetic voices need to cry out to Heaven about.
You might wonder what I am talking about. Sometimes areas of justice inequality happen right underneath our noses and societal stereotypes in gender roles make us miss them even if we are more finely tuned to gender disparity than others. I am speaking about ushers. Have you ever seen a female usher. Maybe some diocese are more enlightened than mine, but I have only seen male ushers. From the ultra-traditionalist ushers wearing suits to more laid back males wearing a variety of clothing. But what they all have in common is they all have two distinct sex chromosomes (XY), and are of the heterogametic sex.
This seems to be a small t tradition and there are not even any Vatican document regulating this. Though of course even if this had been a long tradition of the church and even considered part of Apostolic Tradition we would be able to override this just as in women's ordination. When it comes to ushers to paraphrase St. Paul their are neither Jew or Greek. Some might argue that it is not the will of Christ that there be women ushers. But scripture is silent as to the sex of any ushers at the last supper. While Old Testament usher (doorkeepers/gatekeepers) were male this was just a cultural bias like the all male priesthood in Mosaic law.
Historically Ustiarius Theodora is the inscription on a 9th century mosaic in the St. Zeno Chapel of the Church of St. Praxedis in Rome. Historically, Ustiarius was the mother of Pope Paschal I, and he created the chapel for her. This is certainly proof that there were women ushers as the name shows.
Ontologically women are just as capable of taking money from others as men are. Some would make the case that they are even more capable at doing this than most men. Physically women are also just as able to pass the basket as they walk up and down the aisle so there can be no case made against them here. Women are often excellent greeters and pointing out empty seats comes naturally to them.
The Catholic Church must continue to adapt itself to changing times in order to remain prophetic. We must let go of past prejudices and fully embrace women ushers into our churches. Let go of past gender preferences and false gender roles. There will be no justice until there are women usher. So I call all women who feel they have a vocation to be an usher to let their prophetic voice guide them and to stand up and greet people as they come into the churches. Let not the gender conventions of the past deter you and rise up against male hierarchical thinking that uses their power to keep you from becoming ushers.
Known as 
Years ago, our pastor asked the head usher at the time to include women as ushers. We eventually gave up trying to recruit women because they just didn't want to do it. A female friend of mine who is a strong proponent of inclusive liturgical ministries (while accepting the male-only nature of the priesthood) has said she has no problem with the ushers staying 100% male. I've also only ever seen two female ushers in my life at other parishes, both in extremely non-traditional areas.
I don't know what it is about the ushers that women don't want to be involved in it, but that attitude definitely seems to be out there that it's okay for ushers to remain all male.
I most heartily agree! Women are much more capable of taking money from MEN especially! LOL
LOL! funny! though that comment about them taking money is completely true.
We're a pretty conservative parish and we already have women ushers --at least 4 that I know of. Too funny!
Well, my parish in the Pacific Northwest has 2 ushers of the female persuasion.
What, you say? Of course the PacNW, home of latte-loving Seattle metro types, would have female ushers. But here's the rub, I live in a rural area of Washington state (we are so far out in the boondocks, we can see Canada from here). Our parish is blessed with a 40-year-old priest devoted to Jesus Christ, His Mother, His Eucharistic presence, and the 2000+ history of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. So we are far from the leftish folks--geographically and dogmatically--as you can get.
Why do we have female ushers? I think they volunteered, they show up on time, dress appropriately, greet everyone with smiles and respect.
We also have women sacristans - maybe because more of them attend the Sunday & weekday Masses?
As a woman born of a woman, I personally would not want to be a sacristan or usher, though I have been known to vacuum the Church. I draw the line at being a priest or deacon however.
Who wants to do the dishes?!
I LOVE being an usher! Especially the collecting-the-money part. I also like advising people, especially tourists, in our huge and ancient church to for bleep's sake watch the step before exiting the pew at Communion.
Kelly
Wow. Even in Rochester we don't have women ushers!
hmm I don't know maybe no women want to do that? I don't think that anybody would really care... I know that I helped collecting money a couple of times when I was a kid, and I think that we have a female usher in my church... again it's not that big of a deal for me so I haven't paid attention
Usher, schmusher.
When will men try to join those orders of Whimyn Relgious who want to become priests? Sure, it will be hard to find men who want to wear polyester pantsuits and dangle earrings and cherish the spirit of Gaia in their -- wherever you keep that, but I'll bet there are some around! Maybe even some that don't do drugs. Anymore.
And here's the tricky part - would those Whimyn let them join? I mean, think about that - men who want to become sisters so they can become priests!
There's a real headline for ya.
Of course, women need to be everywhere. Next they will want to use the same bathroom, or have stand up stalls in their bathrooms.
Anytime any of these so called women want REAL equality with men come see me. I will show them what REAL equality is.
They do not want equality they want what is percieved as "perks" none of the hard stuff that must be sacrificed just the perks.
I guess women will not be happy until they have push every single man out of the church.
Oh and by women I mean the "anti-men" type. You know who you are!
We have women ushers in my parish, but we don't pass a basket, so they just...usher people to and from their seats.
So funny. And applicable this very day in my parish, though I can't say why. :) Thanks for the laugh, Jeff. I needed it.
"Ontologically women are just as capable of taking money from others as men are."
Given what we saw in the old TV sit-coms, I thought that was something women were more capable then men of doing!
Ushers? Who needs ushers when the churches are full only two days a year?
Oh, you mean money collectors! Women and children also do that here.
Just another indication, like with female scout leaders and grade school teachers that men aren't really necessary.
Who has "ushers" any more? Don't you know, they're now called ministers of hospitality?
Thanks for the clarification, Lourdes. At our Parish (in red-neck Alberta) we do not have ushers either, just male and female hospitality ministers. As for the collection basket, well we use pre-authorized electronic transfers from the bank account.
Our regular ushers are two ancient, regal old men; once a month, on "Youth Group Sunday," it's done by the kids who lectored.
About 25/75 f/m on altar servers, since there just aren't that many people with children that come regularly.
Here in the Dallas Diocese we have female ushers. Not a big deal.
After many years as an usher in our parish, the pastor "fired" me. I was replaced by the head usher's live-in girlfriend in tight jeans. Most members of the parish thought they were married because they had lived together for so long.
I was seen as "weird" for being single and living alone.
"ministers of hospitality"? Lourdes, I thought you were kidding. But then Roberto chimed in. Do you two really have "ministers of hospitality?"
Interesting. We attended mass last Saturday evening at the Brompton Oratory in London. By all appearances a "traditional" parish--baroque architecture,communion rail, communion on the tongue, Tridentine AND Novus Ordo Latin mass on Sundays, and ad orientem during the English mass--there were several older ladies taking up the collection. They did not use baskets as we do but velvet bags on a sort of stick. Everywhere is different I guess.
There were no women in the gestapo, either.
They tried, but they were too ardent. Imagine thrown out of the gestapo for cruelty.
We have women ushers at our parish, I didn't realise they were such a novelty. There's certainly more men than women ushers, though.
Maybe it's because ushers serve rather than minister. There is no visibility or power associated with being an usher, so it's not attractive to feminists and nacissists.
There are female ushers here, including the ones at Immaculate Conception (Detroit Archbishop Vigneron's home parish). It's a nice little church, complete with an outdoor grotto and a wreckovation-free interior.
So I don't think that ushers have to be men. I suppose, though, we could say for the sake of argument that they should be. In which case, I'm all for a return to the castrato singers in the choirs. (Not really, but it's fun to type: castrato, castrato, castrato....)
At my college we had "hospitality ministers" that were both male and female, but at home we just have old men as ushers. I wouldn't want to be an usher at home b/c that would be like a girl joining the guy's club, but at school it was no big deal. On the other hand, the at home we have lots more girls serving, and at school the chaplain would try to convince girls to serve but only like two did, out of 20+ altar servers.
The black Baptist churches I grew up in have ALWAYS had women ushers, as well as men! My mother and grandmother served as ushers. They had uniforms (white women's suits,) badges identifying them as ushers, and regular meetings to hone their skills (the men did the same--they wore black men's suits, of course). They had designated Sundays to perform their duties: first and third Sundays, or 2nd and 4th Sundays, with both covering 5th Sundays. Heck, they even had regional and state conventions!
So if other Black baptists read your blog, they are going to totally miss the humor intended--to be an usher was like being a Sunday School teacher or choir member, with absolutely no strife or controversy about the roles of women vs. men at all.
I never saw a church with all male ushers until I visited a college friend's Southern Baptist Church. He had an equally hard time imagining female ushers, but as I said, I grew up seeing both.
As we used to say back in the day, different strokes for different folks...
Where I go to Mass we have no assigned ushers. Any collection is taken up by two people, one on each side, asked by the priest or one of the servers about ten minutes before Mass begins...(Unless it's Fr. Michael, in which case they will be asked about five minutes before Mass begins....)
We have male and female hospitality ministers, too. Even if I weren't otherwise engaged, I wouldn't volunteer for the job simply out of protest for the silly name.
In my parish we have a number of men and one woman who take up the collection. I have no idea what they are called. I have no desire to join them.
At times they try to have "greeters" - which I detest! These are women who smile and greet you when you enter the church - as if you were a visitor who might not know where to go.
As a Catholic, I believe that I have come home when I enter a Catholic church and do not need to be greeted or directed to a seat.
I'm probably getting to be an old Biddie!